Amazon is turning warehouse work into a competitive game while looking toward a future in which robots with steel talons do the labor.

The e-commerce behemoth led by CEO Jeff Bezos is running an experiment in several warehouses, involving thousands of “pickers” and “stowers” whose labors are incorporated into video games in a process called “gamification,” according to a Washington Post report.

“Some compete by racing virtual dragons or sports cars around a track, while others collaborate to build castles piece by piece,” writes the newspaper, which is owned by Bezos. “They’re racing to fill customer orders, their progress reflected in a video game format. The games simultaneously register the completion of … (a) task, which is tracked by scanning devices, and can pit individuals, teams or entire floors against one another to be fastest.”

Participation is optional, the paper reported. “The company said it doesn’t monitor game results or penalize workers for not participating,” according to the Post. “However, warehouse workers are tracked carefully for speed, efficiency and other factors, and those who underperform can be fired or reassigned.

“And if the games are helping to push workers to be more productive, it could make those who eschew them appear to be straggling.”

Amazon’s gamification experiment started at a single warehouse in 2017 and is now underway at five of the company’s “fulfillment” facilities. The Post didn’t offer specifics on which warehouses were involved.

“The games are a response to worker complaints that Amazon’s push for more automation has made laborers feel like cogs in a bigger machine, as they increasingly work alongside robots,” according to the Post.

The newspaper report also noted other firms have launched similar gamification initiatives.

“Uber and Lyft have mastered gamification in an effort to keep drivers on the road longer, generally by dangling cash rewards for completing seemingly arbitrary goals, such as 60 rides in a week or 20 more miles,” according to the paper.

“Target has used games to encourage cashiers to scan products more quickly, and Delta Air Lines used them to help train reservation agents.”

Turning labor into a game works best with boring tasks, a gamification consultant told the Post. “Anything to reduce the drudgery, even the smallest amount, is going to give a bump to workers’ happiness,” Gabe Zichermann told the paper.

However, for workers playing the games, the novelty can quickly wear off, video game designer Jane McGonigal, who has studied gamification, told the Post.

“As soon as workers start underperforming against their colleagues, it becomes less fun and can actually be counterproductive,” McGonigal said.

Another recent report suggested that thousands of Amazon warehouse workers are fired every year for “failing to move packages quickly enough.” The report by tech website The Verge also said workers’ productivity is tracked using automated systems, and if they fall far enough behind on their work, they’re sacked by automated systems.

Automation efforts

Amazon, which according to the Post employs more than a quarter million people in its U.S. warehouses, is busily working to automate warehouse work. It has deployed an army of goods-moving robots in warehouses, and has run robot-making contests to promote development of “picking” and “stowing” machines. On Tuesday, it received another in a series of patents for robotic appendages for manipulating products in warehouses.

The Seattle firm’s newly patented “finger assembly” is intended to be attached to a robotic arm, and has a retractable talon, which could be made of steel or plastic, according to the patent document.

“The talon in the extended position is adapted to at least partially support a load from an item lifted by the robotic arm,” the document from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said.

A patent does not necessarily lead to deployment of a particular technology, so whether robots with talons end up working in Amazon’s warehouses remains to be seen. The company has told this news organization that its tens of thousands of robotic movers have helped it expand its business and hire many more workers.

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